SAO PAULO (Standard&Poor's) Sept. 1, 2005--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services today assigned its 'BB-' foreign currency and 'BB+' local currency corporate credit ratings to Brazil-based steelmaker Gerdau S.A. (Gerdau). The outlook is stable. "The ratings reflect Gerdau's exposure to the volatile and cyclical commodity long steel industry, an acquisitive growth strategy that may cause some peaks of financial leverage in the future, and a heavy capital budget in the next three years aimed at both brownfield and greenfield capacity expansions," said Standard&Poor's credit analyst Reginaldo Takara. "These negatives are partly mitigated by Gerdau's adequate geographic diversification through the Americas, an improving financial profile and the increasing profitability of its North American operation, and the expectation that
